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OwnerDuncan W. McBranch, David G. Whitten +1inventors
InventorsDuncan W. McBranch, David G. Whitten, Michael Egholm
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A chemical moiety including a polymer (P), a first tethering element (T), a ligand (L) which is a specific sequence of PNA, a second tethering element (T′) and a quencher (Q) is disclosed. In the absence of a complement to the PNA sequence, the PNA is in a tightly coiled configuration, thereby quenching the polymer due to the close proximity of the quencher to the polymer. When a receptor is added that recognizes the PNA sequence, a hybridization of the PNA sequence separates the polymer and the quencher, resulting in an increase of detected fluorescence. The same chemistry is advantageously employed in a competitive assay. A method for detecting nucleic acids in a target sample using the PTLT′Q molecule is also disclosed.
A chemical moiety comprising a fluorescent polymer bound together by a first tethering element to a recognition element which binds to a target nucleic acid, said recognition element being further bound together by a second tethering element to a property altering element which alters fluorescence emitted by said fluorescent polymer when complexed together to a distinguishable degree, wherein, in the presence of binding of said recognition element to said target nucleic acid, the fluorescence emitted by said fluorescent polymer is altered from that emitted when said binding between said recognition element and said target nucleic acid does not occur.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.